Oh did I say Greenpeace? I meant Federalist Society
There is some evidence that the Justice Department has been screening resumes for its prestigious recruitment program on the basis of political bias. An inspector general report (as detailed in the New York Times on June 25th, 2008, “Report Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Dept.”) concludes that during the Bush administration, the DOJ turned away qualified applicants with liberal leaning backgrounds and interests in favor of their more conservative (and sometimes less qualified) competition.
Left or right, I’ve not heard anyone condoning the government’s actions in this particular matter. Certainly, for the Department of Justice in particular, it should be about the most qualified lawyers getting these jobs without respect to their political point of view. Having said that, can we ever truly leave our bias at the door? A resume that is pointedly political will necessarily evoke a response from its audience. And, as a lawyer in the lateral market, it’s sometimes difficult to anticipate how your world view is going to be perceived by a potential employer.
I hate to tell a lawyer to sanitize their resume. Removing something you feel passionately about from the four corners of your resume feels a little like ’selling out’, doesn’t it? Obviously, if you spent a summer on the campaign trail it’s a part of your professional background and your work history, and you have to include it. But what if you volunteer at Planned Parenthood? Or lobby your school system to teach intelligent design?
It’s important to recognize that people will form perceptions of you based on your background and what causes you support. Reviewing a resume is a subjective analysis–the reviewer brings their own bias to the table. I suppose the magnitude of this bias depends in part on what you do and where you live. It makes me wonder whether it ever makes sense to temper one’s resume to keep the emphasis on skills and achievements and away from those activities that might reveal our place on the political spectrum. Has anyone removed something from their resume to minimize their political leanings?
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